In his first few minutes as the chief of the newly titled Paramount Skydance, David Ellison took the microphone and mostly deflected a bunch of questions from reporters whove followed every turn of the 13-month journey to close the $8 billion deal to take control of the studio.

The message from the mogul was also: Technology is coming to Hollywood, regardless of whether studios choose to embrace it, so Paramount hopes to take an artist-driven approach to it.

The Oracle heir spoke about his affinity for the film and television business and said the words that all talent wants to hear, they are first and foremost important in a storytelling company but also signaled that hes much more willing to experiment with new technology that can turbocharge Paramounts IP, which includes SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Yellowstone and more. The CEO tried to distance himself from the $16 million deal that the Shari Redstone-led leadership made with President Trump to settle his 60 Minutes lawsuit. Pressed by reporters about whether Ellisons Paramount Skydance had a side deal to air public service announcements, the Oracle heir and new CEO of the company said that settlement had been made by prior leadership.

Ellison, flanked by president Jeff Shell, chairman of TV media George Cheeks and COO Andy Gordon, spoke with reporters about the deal close on Thursday while at Paramounts Time Square office during a media presentation. Over and over, the buzz word among executives whod gathered was how they were taking care to be non-political in this particular moment.

Were ready to move past the noise, the CEO said, despite the lobbed questions geared toward Trump, 60 Minutes independence and FCC maneuvering. Instead, Ellison pivoted to talking about unifying the tech stack (the backend technology) that powers Paramount+, SkyShowtime and PlutoTV, while acknowledging that thered be cost-cutting made. Look for the November earnings call for those financial outlook details, the exec panel said.

Shell, for one, signaled that hes looking forward to finally getting to work implementing the new Skydance plan at Paramount after sitting on the sidelines as the company underwent regulatory review, a a drawn out process that, lets just say, certainly didnt stay non-political.

The new Paramount Skydance will trade on the Nasdaq as PSKY in its latest incarnation. In an open letter to shareholders on Thursday, Ellison wrote that he wants to empower our creative partners with technology that will enable them to tell bigger, more compelling stories fueled by human ingenuity but that the company will face some hard but necessary decisions to align our team for growth and efficiency.

More to come.